Seal Beach safety-equipment maker's global reach requires new HQ

March 10, 2014

Updated March 15, 2014 12:05 p.m.

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Steve Moss, North American business manager for DTS, checks the data being produced by a test dummy. The dummy is connected to the DTS device Slice Pro, which is a high-speed data recorder related to safety and injury measurements. ISAAC ARJONILLA, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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During the grand opening of their new 50,000-square-foot headquarters, DTS Vice President and COO Tim Kippen shows some of the smaller pieces that make up his devices. ISAAC ARJONILLA, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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The new Diversified Technical Systems offices are located at 1720 Apollo Court in Seal Beach. ISAAC ARJONILLA, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Steve Moss, North American business manager for DTS, checks the data being produced by a test dummy. The dummy is connected to the DTS device Slice Pro, which is a high-speed data recorder related to safety and injury measurements. ISAAC ARJONILLA, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

About Diversified Technical Systems

Founded: 1990

Headquarters: 1720 Apollo Court, Seal Beach

Employees: Nearly 70

Background: Engineers Steve Pruitt, Mike Beckage and Tim Kippen worked together in the 1980s at an auto crash test facility in the high desert, where they measured and recorded data from experiments. When they left the company, the trio started DTS to build and sell car testing equipment. They rented space above a friend's Long Beach garage in 1990 until they moved the company to an Old Town Seal Beach five years later.

Expertise: DTS manufactures data recorders and sensors used in crash, blast and biomechanics testing by automakers, aerospace and research facilities. For example, NASCAR racecars are equipped with DTS event recorders, Pruitt said.

SEAL BEACH – On a rare public tour of data recorder and sensor manufacturer Diversified Technical Systems in Seal Beach, one could find items such as crash test dummies and rooms that simulate high-pressure environments its products are made for.

DTS makes data recorders and sensor test equipment that check the safety of items that must withstand a lot of pressure, such as cars, helicopters, military and aerospace equipment, football helmets, bicycles, trains and parachutes.

Much of manufacturer's work is meant for behind-the-scenes testing in rooms like these, but DTS products have gained attention from the Army and NASCAR and major automotive manufacturers GM, Ford, Chrysler and Toyota.

The company celebrated the grand opening of its new worldwide headquarters March 6.

Customers toured the 50,000-square-foot facilities near Boeing's complex to get a close-up look at DTS products and how they work.

Steve Pruitt, DTS president and co-founder, said he is excited about not having space limitations for what he envisions for the company. He said DTS has operated at the site since October and is locked into a lease agreement for the space for the next 15 years.

“It's cute to be down in (Old Town) Seal Beach, but it's not so cute anymore when you have big-cost customers,” Pruitt said. “They want to see (something) more like this.”

Engineers Pruitt, Mike Beckage and Tim Kippen worked together in the 1980s at an auto crash-test facility in the high desert, where they measured and recorded data from experiments.

When they left the company, the trio started DTS to build and sell car testing equipment. They rented space above a friend's Long Beach garage in 1990 until they moved the company to an Old Town Seal Beach office off Main Street and Electric Avenue five years later.

“It ended up being quite the rat's maze just to get around,” Pruitt said. “The ceilings were really low and we've got test equipment that requires higher ceilings. What you really want in a facility … is an open space with no walls. The old facility was a lot of hard walls, and you just had to wind your way through the company.”

Pruitt and Kippen said their former location in Seal Beach became a part of the company's identity, and that the company has grown partly by offering employees and clients something other companies could not.

“There is some part of it that made it attractive, we weren't just a stodgy, technical company,” Pruitt said.

Soon their tests and product demand started requiring more space, so Pruitt and Kippen started looking for a new location about two years ago.

In October 2012, Inc. Magazine ranked DTS as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States. According to Inc., the company had 97 percent revenue growth from 2008 through 2011 and revenue of $19.1 million in 2011.

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